Archive for the ‘Azerbaijan’ Category

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said the trilateral cooperation among Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan can “serve peace and stability” in the region, local satellite Press TV reported Sunday.

“Trilateral cooperation among Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey is not only in the interest of the three countries, but also in the interest of the entire region,” Salehi was quoted as saying.

Salehi made the remarks on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the first trilateral meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers in Iran’s northwestern city of Orumiyeh, said Press TV.

The meeting “can lay the proper foundation for expanding cooperation with other regional countries and serve peace and stability in the region,” Salehi said, adding that “All the three countries stress the necessity of resolving regional disputes in a peaceful and just manner, and believe that expanding relations and economic cooperation in the region could help establish and guarantee peace and stability.”

The foreign minister said the meeting initiated “a new framework for trilateral cooperation” in culture, trade, industry, and investment sectors.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the trilateral meetings will boost the three nations’ relations and bring them closer together.

Iran and Turkey have opened a third border crossing at Kapıköy in eastern Turkey’s Van province, in what the foreign ministers of both countries called a symbol of friendship amid increased regional cooperation efforts.

“Our prime minister has set a target of $30 billion in annual trade with Iran. That is why we are opening this border crossing,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Saturday. “We are announcing to the world that Turkey and Iran will be friends for eternity.”

Media in Iran quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying: “This border is a symbol of peace and friendship and the resurrection of the Silk Road, which for centuries played an important role in making the economy of the region flourish. It also will help the development of the border area and welfare of its residents.”

Salehi said trade between Turkey and Iran currently stands at $11 billion annually, a figure he said the two countries are trying to raise to $30 billion.

The joint border between the two countries runs for 499 kilometers and already has crossing points at Gürbulak, in the eastern province of Ağrı, and at Esendere, southeast of Van.

Davutoğlu said a fourth border crossing would be opened in June at Esendere. A fifth will follow at Dilucu in northeast Turkey, he said, without giving a date for its opening.